No more messy self manicures

I feel like most people will agree with me when I say painting your own nails = disaster. We are all too familiar with paint all over our hands, the table and the inevitable fumey smell in the air. Well I think I found a solution. I bought Sally Salon Effects nail polish strips about two months ago and finally used it today. It is great! I was surprised how EASY this nail beautifying process was. No smudging, no wet polish, just perfection. It took me under 15 minutes to complete my Manicure. The polish strips are a thin coat of stretchy dried polish that you just press onto your nail. I do not know how it sticks so well... magic.

There are a variety of cool colors and prints. I think I will try the "laced up" print next or maybe "Skinny Jeans"!

I wanted to take some pictures to show you, but realized I left my camera at my cousins house. The next best thing is the camera on my phone and the Photo Booth application on my Mac. I rarely use Photo Booth and my intention was to take only ONE nail shot. I got a little carried away, it was way too fun!

my favorite arm series

I love being able to workout with the least amount of equipment. I love being able to challenge my body using ONLY my body. You would not believe how hard it is to lift your own leg, in good form, multiple times. With that said here comes a video that has been requested by many. The loved and hated ARM SERIES! This series is all about you, your arms, gravity, and using all the space around you. Yes, you can move your arms up and down, but to really press through space, almost as if you are swimming in water, creating that resistance as you flex every muscle in your back, shoulders and arms; that extra, heart felt, focused power... THAT is what will make the difference.

It's quite amazing what it will and can do. This is the only focused arm workout I do (other than the bands and ball series in my classes, a total of about 7 minutes a week). When you do this no weighted arm series, do it with passion. Feel your whole body getting into the movement as you open your chest, pull your shoulders down and back, and really squeeze your shoulder blades together. You will be amazed at what 5 minutes of what looks like flailing your arms around can do.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guCrz5W4JgE?rel=0&hd=1]

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Brandon Bettencourt and filed under sweat, fitness.

Sweet Basil

My family gathered together yesterday at Sweet Basil for a nice Sunday night dinner! Knowing that there would be a long wait mama Hefez brought a bag of cashews and pistachios for us to munch on so that we would not get antsy. My parents also brought red and white wine (which we cracked into while waiting) because the restaurant does not serve liquor, but you can BYOB. I usually do not love Italian food, but I enjoy this restaurant. We ordered 2 salad appetizers, my favorite being the chilled beat salad. This salad used to be prepared with warm goat cheese, yummm, but they changed their recipe a little for the summer and replaced warm goat cheese with blue cheese... a little disappointing.

We also ordered 5 entrees (there were 8 of us) and split them amongst each other. I like this way of ordering, you get to try everything!

Sorry Sweet Basil, but your tap water tastes funny, so we ordered San Pellegrino. I had a glass of white wine and was feeling creative so I added in a little red wine which made it a lighter red and then added some Pellegrino making it pink and bubbly... a masterpiece. It was passed around the table for everyone to try.

Sweet Basil also does not have dessert! WHAT? NO alcohol and NO dessert! We would have usually gone out to Starbucks around the corner for some coffee/tea and dessert, but we were all tired and decided to call it a night. I do enjoy this place, even though it does get cramped. But the food is good and the wait staff is friendly.

I brought along my friend Megan Bra. She is so sassy.

PS thanks brother for adding to the picture.

White Tank= H&M $7.95. Its soft, long, and slinky. Awesome! Black Sweater= BCBG originally $98 purchased for $23! Search those Lord&Taylor racks!

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Brandon Bettencourt and filed under vogue, fashion, food.

NKOTBSB

My cousin called me Wednesday night to ask if I wanted to come to the NKOTBSB concert with her and a couple of her friends. After yelling a little I said "YES!". The last time I saw BSB I was 13 (?)!

What an awesome marketing idea, merge the most popular boy band from the 80's with the most popular boy band from the 90's and blammo, you have millions of screaming lady fans! Yes, I was one of them.

The concert was held at Fenway Park, which made the whole experience that much cooler. It started to pour half way through, but lucky for us we were the first row protected under the stadium roof. Not that the rain stopped anyone anyway, not even NKOTBSB. In fact they embraced it; singing literally in the rain. They were drenched and transformed the cat walk part of their stage in to a 200 foot slip and slide!

The music was awesome amd both BSB and NKOTB did some of their signature dance moves. Loved!(hah) They seriously rocked it (and still had ABS!). I told myself that if I was old enough to really appreciate NKOTB when they were big, I would have been a Donnie Whalberg fan, he just has that edge about him... raaarrr.

My class tonight is going to be NKOTBSB music inspired! See you there!